Business View Civil and Municipal | Volume 3, Issue 3

158 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 3 annual Flip Flop Festival. “We built a festival around being on the coast and wearing flip flops,” French says. “We’ve had some big name artists perform at this festival. We pull people from all over the country.” Since COVID hit, they’ve had to make some changes, putting on several smaller events instead – including a scaled back Flip Flop Festival. “We’ve found ways to adapt,” French shares. “The city invested in a big blow-up screen and we do drive-in movies that are bayfront, and we also do a summer concert series with local artists.” One of their biggest successes was last year’s Rock Festival. And that’s not the “rock ’n roll” kind of rock. French recalls, “The festival was based on a Facebook post where some kids were throwing brand new, expensive landscape rocks into the bay. They shouldn’t have been throwing those, so we built a festival and brought in good rocks for throwing and we educated kids on why we shouldn’t throw those very expensive rocks.” Strong academics, athletics, and extracurriculars: • High state assessment scores, compared to other school districts in our region of similar size (TAPR report) • District Academic UIL champions • Robust career & technical training with industry-recognized certifications • Advance to playoffs in nearly every UIL sport, band, and robotics Supportive Community: • Newly-constructed middle school • Decreased tax rate for 3 consecutive years • Educational wetlands and floating classroom • Plans for a community safe room/ FEMA dome Join our Calhoun County ISD team at www.calcoisd.org | 361-552-9728 Nautical Landings Photo Courtesy of Tania French Photo Courtesy of Tania French Photo Courtesy of Tania French